Bhaskar Group All Set To launch Two New Portals

The digital arm and subsidiary of DB Corp (Dainik Bhaskar group), i-Media Corporation Limited (IMCL), is gearing up to launch two new websites. As per the afaqs,Gyan Gupta, business head, IMCL reveals that one will be an English language news portal and the other will be an education related website. Both sites are expected to go live by the end of this month. However, the URLs of these portals have not been finalised yet.

The Group would launch a news site in English for the first time, though it already owns and runs Hindi (Bhaskar.com) and Gujarati (DivyaBhaskar.co.in) news portals. Similar to Dainik Bhaskar’s site, Bhaskar.com, the English news portal is expected to be highly focused on state-level or local news, apart from offering national and international news content. The site will also have interactive features such as blogs and forums, as well as features to share content across social media properties.Gupta says, “Local news is our strength. We have figured out that a lot of individuals — who consume content online mainly in English — residing in India and abroad would like to read local- level news of their hometowns. Based on that, we have decided to launch an English language website to cater to the needs of such people.”

Gupta thinks that the English news site would gain popularity among non-resident Indians (NRIs), consumers who stay away from their hometowns and younger people, who want to read local news in English.The hiring of editorial staff for the news portal has been on for last few months. It is understood that a dedicated set of reporters would be roped in to gather and publish news on the English news website. The English news website will be primarily monetised through advertising.

The education website will be focused on career-related information or guidance. To begin with, the site will have information related to various career opportunities, jobs guidance and counselling related to different career options. “Later, we will add interactive and customisation features on the site,” Gupta says.

The education site will be mainly targeted towards users in tier II and III towns and will also be monetised through advertising. However, there are no plans to offer listing options to educational institutes as of now.